wayne sheldon
-
Posts
4,129 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Gallery
Events
Posts posted by wayne sheldon
-
-
I think Mark G is right! Which means it could be General Motors, and therefore Pontiac.
OP said "has hydraulic brakes" and I believed it rather than looking closer.
(Pay closer attention Sheldon!)
-
General Motors, makers of Pontiac, didn't switch to hydraulic brakes until later in the mid 1930s. Wheels could have been changed, but chassis design looks about 1930 also. Chrysler Corporation was the first of the big three to go with hydraulic brakes. Maybe Plymouth? Does the one hubcap have a name on it?
-
Nice update to an old thread!
Thank you.
Love that old photo of the model A!
-
1
-
-
Looks good to me!
-
Those early Plymouths seem to have quite a following! Now and then I seem to meet people that have them, or quite fondly remember ones they used to have. Walter P Chrysler did a fine job taking struggling Maxwell and turning it into an industry powerhouse.
-
2
-
-
8 hours ago, SparkEE said:
It’s a PA.
And I don't think you mean "Pierce Arrow"!
-
1
-
-
Talk about an identity crisis? The poor car doesn't know what it is!
-
1
-
-
From the photos, I cannot tell if the shifter is for a Ruckstell or an auxiliary transmission (overdrives are nice!). Either way it is most likely a plus. From the photos, the price appears to be right! Almost anything can be fixed on a 1920s model T for a reasonable cost. Wish I had money enough. Personally, I prefer the earlier model Ts, but this one looks nice enough I wouldn't mind playing with it for a few years before trading it on again.
-
4
-
-
Maybe possibly be rumble seat hinges? Not model A Ford, not like my 1929 Reo (they were stamped steel, not cast), I have seen some from 1920s Buicks, not quite like those. Maybe something else?
-
2 hours ago, Gearheadengineer said:
This is super cool. You see lots of As and some nicer ones for similar money. But I love the originality of this one. I love the comment about driving it home at 22 mph. 😀
I did find that comment cute. However, if your stock model A won't cruise at nearly 45 mph? There is something wrong with it. My friend years ago had a 1929 four-door sedan that he put many thousands of miles on. He worked as a customer service/salesman going to businesses all over the South Bay Area (San Jose California) for work. For about five years the model A was his only car because he enjoyed driving it so much! We often went on antique auto tours and events on weekends, more often in his model A sedan, a lot of times in my model T speedster (or sometimes my 1929 Reo coupe). I many times drove his sedan, probably a thousand miles behind the wheel of that car myself.
The point of all that is that the cars can be good driving cars! And the brakes should work well. Steve was meticulous about adjusting the brakes on his model A, and made sure all four wheels were working at their best.
I usually drove his car a little slower than he did, I did not want it to break while I was driving. But Steve used to push it to slightly over 50 mph with stock gearing and pretty much everything else. However, gasoline was a little better in those days (let us not go down that rabbit hole!), so I suspect top speed wouldn't be that high today.
-
1
-
-
Ultimately, Braking is between the tire and the road. How the resistance is applied to the wheel to transfer to the road doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
Properly adjusted, mechanical brakes will stop a car basically as well as do hydraulically applied brakes.
Maximum braking is just before the tire breaks free (skids) from the road. Regardless of how the pressure is applied. Disc brakes cool better, resist fade, and have slightly better control IF you are putting them through to their limits! At antique automobile speeds, they do not make enough difference to be worth the modifications (relative to PROPERLY adjusted mechanical brakes through the same wheels and tires!).
Granted, much of that is my opinion. But it is supported by thousands of miles of driving properly adjusted mechanical brakes. Two wheel brakes of course are much less efficient than four wheel brakes (roughly only 40 percent as effective as four wheel brakes). And a person needs to familiarize themselves with their car's braking and handling capabilities, regardless of the car's vintage.
Model A Ford four wheel brakes are not the best around. This is due to the fact that their brakes have no self equalizing. This in turn requires the brakes be properly adjusted more often. Still, when properly adjusted, they work quite well and are quite adequate for a model A's speeds under most conditions.
-
7
-
-
But aren't the lamps on that Stutz and Kissel electric? The reflectors on the Stutz would indicate as such. Ventilation is not needed with electric headlamps.
(No offense intended in any way!)
And where have I seen a similar Stutz? (No need to answer) Beautiful car!
-
11 hours ago, Varun Coutinho said:
appears to be a 1910 Model 76-A with custom front doors.
Those front doors (or fore doors?) are interesting. I have seen a few early automobiles with after-marker fore doors on them that looked really nice. These on the other hand have numerous exposed screws or bolt-heads showing around both the door and its mounting panel I can't recall seeing any like that before? Pure speculation. They were probably custom made to fit the car by a local carriage builder? Still, I would expect that they should have done a more neatly done job of it.
Interesting photo of a nice car regardless.
-
1
-
-
Decent 1930s panel trucks are highly prized, extremely desirable, and can be expensive!
Let us know if you find one.
-
I think Layden is on to something here. (I have known him for forty years, he is pretty sharp!) Several things about these lamps don't look right. They appear to have the mounting base in the back of the buckets for the special mirrors used by acetylene lamps? But the vent/bonnets on the top look crude for the era compared with most other lamps. (Some early lamps around 1905 did have crude looking bonnets, but not generally that way by 1910.) These have burners and connections for acetylene lamps, but no vent holes necessary for air for the flame and cooling for the lamp bodies (ever feel how hot those things get when they are lit?). Without venting, they would probably get hot enough to melt the solder!
-
This is all part of what has held my attention to automotive history for so very long! The many interconnections of ideas and devices, improvements to the motorcar, and the influences on the development of modern society. Fascinating stuff!
-
1
-
-
15 hours ago, rocketraider said:
There are several people on the Forums that I don't think we realize how valuable a resource they are. Varun is one of those people.
I would sure like to meet him some day! I have known his name for quite a few years. A private collector I was privileged to know well for many years had a wonderful collection of early automobiles. I was visiting at his shop one day, and they had been working on one of their horseless carriages they were doing a complete restoration of. I was just hanging around on my lunch break as I often did if I had some time to spare and happened to be in the area, and one of the owners was talking with the fellow managing the restoration. The one of the owners said "I was talking with Varun on the phone, and he suggested we - - - - -". I could tell by the way he said it the respect he had for this fellow, and his suggestion how to solve an issue they were having.
I always enjoy his posts here, and am amazed by the obscure automobiles he can recognize and identify.
-
5
-
-
It could maybe be? They did make a cheaper line. But I doubt that one is a Biflex. Most of their bumpers were the higher quality line, which this one is not. As I said, they did make a cheaper line which I did see in some advertising of theirs some years ago. I have seen other advertising showing bumpers very similar to this one by a few other companies. I have looked at several similar bumpers, including at least one that from memory looked nearly identical, most of them had nothing on them that indicated what company made them. I do recall one from years ago that had a small metal tab (about the size of a nickel) held onto the backside of one of the mounting brackets by one small rivet in its center, that had the manufacturer's name on it! I do not remember the name.
Bumpers went through an interesting evolution. They were showing up on some cars by 1910! Most cars still did not have them as standard equipment in 1925. However, by 1929, most automakers had them as standard equipment, and on cars by then and later most bumpers were marque specific. After-market bumpers continued to be made and sold to people with older cars, although most owners of older cars without bumpers couldn't really afford to buy them in the 1930s.
The one now suspected as from a Locomobile is a make of bumper that I have seen on many makes of cars, including Buick. A very good friend years ago had a 1926 Buick Master opera coupe with a similar version of that bumper! I did make a comment on the "Bumpers" thread about my not knowing who made these particular bumpers, but I like them.
The Biflex type bumper is probably the earlier of the two, likely early to mid 1920s. The Locomobile bumper is likely mid 1920s.
-
1
-
-
I don't know if you would want to try this or not? But it has worked very well for me for shorter lengths (up to about thirty feet).
I didn't like the cloth covered wire I could buy. Most of it was a gauge or two too light (engineering background) for the higher current six volt systems I wanted it for. I also wanted greater flexibility than some of what was available.
So I found plastic covered wire that met my demands (modern plastic jacketing is thinner than the old cloth covered rubber was). Then I went to the local Army/Navy store, and bought about a hundred feet of parachute line in a variety of colors. It is a silken tube with five strands of silk string inside it, and it comes in a dozen different colors. I pulled back the outer tube, tied the five strings to a fixed object, and slowly started sliding the outer covering off of the strings. I had to work it slowly, as it would bunch up as I went. It didn't take long at all, and I had a pile of silk strings and a good long silken tube.
Then came the hard part. An important point is to smooth and blunt the end of the wire (the multi strand wire ends really like to hang up inside the silken tube). A small flame, lighter or candle maybe? Make a clean cut of the end, then heat the plastic enough so that using your fingers stretch it out over the wire's ends, then burn the plastic to close it off to a taper and round the end. Then, literally foot by foot, slide the silken tube over the wire. It should be a bit loose.
I did find that for short lengths, I could manage to separate four inner strings and leave one inside to use as a pull string which made getting the silken tube pulled over the wire easier. The time or two I tried to use one of the five inner strings as a pull alongside the other four, I found they bunched up a bit and didn't help much at all. Part of the problem is that the silken tube is tight enough on the wire that attaching one of the strings to the wire is difficult without making it too large to slide through.
I did several pieces around twenty to thirty feet long, and found working the wire through inch by inch didn't really take long at all. A lot of what I did was figure the length I needed, and cut the wire and silken tube about a foot too long. Then cover and finish the wire, then fit and install, wasting about a foot (better than being an inch too short!).
After the silken tube has been stuffed with the wire. Secure one end together (I used electrical tape), and tie it to something. Then pull the silken tube snugly the full length, securing the other end. Next, to finish it off, paint the entire length with a heavy coat of shellac. If you use Amber shellac, it will darken the color of the silken tubes, which actually made them look more correct for an antique automobile.
That was how I rewired a few of my antique automobiles.
-
5
-
2
-
-
In spite of being a half a continent away, I have known his name and his reputation for about forty years or more. He and Stan Howe who passed away about two years ago were the top two carburetor guys in the model T and horseless carriage world.
Russel Potter was beyond well known, and had many hundreds of personal friends in the hobby. To say "he will be missed" is a huge understatement. He was an active club member, one who stepped up and donated a great deal of time and money to the hobby he loved. I have often heard that he was a great family man also.
I am pretty sure I had met him a couple times at national meets. I wish I had had a chance to know him better.
-
2
-
1
-
-
It is possible that these two photos were the same car, in spite of numerous differences. The mural backgrounds make it most likely that this is a photo booth car. It could have even been a dummy with no engine anymore. Many photographers made a good living traveling the countryside with a running car, a camera, and multiple backdrops. They would go from town to town, set up a temporary stand someplace, and for a few days make some bucks taking pictures of people in his car. Whole communities of people that had never ridden in a car might show up to get their picture in one!
Other photographers might have a dummy car, usually one that had a blown engine not worth repairing, and they would strip a lot of the heavy stuff off of it, and ship it by railroad from town to town. The stripped car would be light and easy to move about.
Most such photographers would set up at county fairs whenever they could make the connections.
It could easily be that the car has a couple options for rear seat for different numbers of people wanting in the picture. A photographer might use a car for several years, change details, remove lamps, touch up the paint or change colors. He might use the car for traveling for a few years, then when the car became unreliable, set up a studio somewhere and keep it as a set-piece for customers to choose.
Photos like these are rather common, most of us have probably seen more of them than we think, and just not realized the photo was a setup? As many era photos as I have looked at over the years, I have probably seen at least fifty such photos! I have about a dozen of them on my computer.
Just another little tidbit of automotive history.
-
1
-
-
9 hours ago, Tom Devoe said:
What would the cable be that crosses the horn tube (in front of the drivers door)? Speedometer cable? Would a speedometer have been an accessory in 1911?
Mounted the way this one is, it appears to be an after-market speedometer, or even may have been only an odometer, something also commonly available in those days. I can't tell for certain, but it appears that whatever it is may be mounted where the body meets the firewall. Factory installed speedometers were almost always mounted on the firewall itself in those days. In those days, the way cars were assembled, being mounted on the firewall before the body was installed simplified the installation. Mounted up high and in the corner that way is more likely an afterthought, and therefore likely an after-market accessory.
I am not sure just when speedometers became available, but I have seen advertising for them from around 1906. Even most high end marques offered them only as an option for several years. Some automakers began making the speedometer standard equipment about 1910. One would need to research each make individually to know whether speedometers were or were not available from the factory for a given car or year model during the 1910s.
Interesting to note and compare, Ford's model T did not include a speedometer its first year introduced late in 1908 as a 1909 model. They were of course available after-market. However, in spite of the Ford being a low price yet quality leader, for 1910 model year, the speedometer became standard equipment on the model T! It remined as such for a few years until a funny thing happened. Roughly five different companies produced speedometers for Ford, but as Ford's production kept increasing faster than had ever before been seen in the automobile world, All those companies could not keep up with the Ford factory's demands! In 1914 and early 1915, the speedometer was considered "standard equipment" on a new Ford, however, a customer could save $5 by agreeing to a "speedometer delete". By the end of 1915, Ford dropped the speedometer as standard equipment, and passed the savings on to the customers as he kept dropping the price of his cars while improvements in production kept making them cheaper to build. Ford left the cars without a speedometer through the end of model T production in 1927. After-market sellers made a good business of providing speedometers for some Ford owners for more than a decade.
-
Now, THAT is a disappearing hard top automobile that I would love to have!
Thank you John E G for posting this.
-
Nice to see a wonderful update!
Thank you.
-
1
-
Period images to relieve some of the stress
in Period Photos - Pre WWII
Posted
Really neat stuff about the Zeppelins!